What really matters
by Mega07ghost
Summary: During an accident Cavendish realises that some things are more important than their job.


_A/N: Soo... My first MML fanfiction. About my two favorite characters. I must admit that I am new to the series and that I haven't seen all the episodes yet but I just had to write this. I hope you enjoy it._

 _Disclaimer: I don't own the series or the characters. They belong to their rightful owners and I just borrow them._

What really matters

Dakota's heart skipped a beat when the car swirled around, he heard the tires' squeaking followed by a loud crash. Then there was nothing. Nothing to hear, nothing to see. Just silent darkness. Were his eyes open? Or closed? He wasn't sure.

Dakota felt like he was flying. It was a strange feeling but it wasn't uncomfortable. He somehow even liked the lack of gravity. No boundaries, no worries.

There were no thoughts filling his head, no pain in his bones. It was actually a great feeling.

But soon a sound interrupted the silence.

' _Dakota_.'

It was a voice. Dakota knew it but at first he had to search through his brain to find the person it belonged to.

' _Dakota!_ '

Cavendish? Yes... There was no doubt that this voice belonged to Balthazar Cavendish, his partner. Why did he call out Dakota's name? Had he fallen asleep again? That sometimes happened during their travels. And then Cavendish got annoyed and angry. But this time the voice sounded neither upset nor furious. It sounded like Cavendish was frightened and worried, like something had disturbed him. That was unusual.

' _Open your eyes, Dakota_!'

Well... that was easier said than done. Dakota tried it as hard as he could but his eyelids felt so heavy. Couldn't he just sleep five more minutes? He was not ready yet to leave this dark but peaceful place.

Cavendish called out his partner's name again and again but the man didn't wake up. Fear gripped Cavendish's heart and he started shaking Dakota's body, begging him to open his eyes. It didn't help.

"Please, Dakota. Wake up!"

Despair filled his voice and it broke towards the end. He swallowed hard and tried it again.

"Please."

Why? Why had this happened? Why hadn't he kept on driving? Of course... the answer was easy: The mission! A truck had lost some pistachios on the street and Cavendish had tried to save them by swerving the car to the left. He hadn't thought about the danger of losing control over the car because of the wet road. No... he hadn't thought about it before it was already too late. The car had gotten off the street and it had crashed into a tree.

And here he was now, trying desperately to wake up Dakota. The curly-haired man's forehead was bleeding. Apparently it had hit against the side window during the crash.

"I- I'm sorry.", Cavendish mumbled, more to himself than to Dakota.

This mission! It was driving him crazy. He had put the safety of some confounded nut before the safety of his partner... his friend. What had gotten into him? Wasn't Dakota's life worth more than the mission? What kind of question was that? _Of course_ Dakota was more important! He was a living, breathing person. And more importantly he was the dearest person to Cavendish, though he would never really admit that.

So why hadn't Cavendish kept on driving? How could he have been so dumb?

A moan caught the man's attention and he looked back at his partner's face. Dakota's eyelids were fluttering and finally they opened.

"C- Cavendish?", he asked, his voice croaking.

A wave of relief washed upon Cavendish and a smile spread on his face.

"Oh thank goodness, you're awake."

Dakota lifted his hand to rub at his hurting forehead but Cavendish stopped him by gripping his hand.

"Don't.", he said and Dakota gave him a questioning look. Not only because Cavendish had stopped him but because he wondered what had happened.

"We- we should let a doctor examine the wound.", his partner stammered, letting go of Dakota's hand.

"Wound?", he asked confused and suddenly realization hit him as he remembered everything. The truck. The pistachios. The tree. The crash.

"We... had an accident. Right.", Dakota mumbled in deep thought. Then a question crossed his mind and he immediately straightened up in his seat only to be greeted by a feeling of dizziness causing him to lean back again.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

Cavendish just shook his head, smiling slightly.

"I am alright. You should be more worried about yourself."

There he had it. Dakota was thinking about him first, showing Cavendish how much he cared for him. Not like he himself had done it.

Dakota nodded slowly and grimaced in pain as he felt his head hurting again.

"Good advise.", he joked while Cavendish got out of the car, walked around it and opened the passenger side's door.

"I guess our vehicle won't let us travel far in this condition. So we have to search for a doctor here."

The taller man helped the smaller one out of the car and steadied him. Dakota gladly accepted the help; though his legs were perfectly capable of walking, he feared that the dizziness might cause him to black out again.

"Thanks for helping me.", he said and Cavendish couldn't bear looking at him.

"You shouldn't thank me. I was the one who caused this accident. And all that because of some small, irrelevant pistachios."

Dakota could hear the blame in his partner's voice. This time he wasn't blaming Dakota like he always did. Cavendish was blaming himself.

"Hey, they're not irrelevant. It's our job to save them, remember?", Dakota tried to cheer him up, but Cavendish shook his head.

"But not at all costs."

He remembered his earlier thought again. That Dakota was more important than the mission and that he was the dearest person to him.

"We have to realize what's important and what really matters."

And though Cavendish didn't say it out loud, Dakota knew that he meant him. _He_ was what really mattered to his partner. Smiling, Dakota replied:

"What really matters is that we're gonna be fine."

Yeah... they would be fine. Because they had each other.


End file.
